davidb@pacer.uucp (David Barts) (10/01/90)
djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > Here are a few items contained in J Edward Hyde's _The_Phone_Book_, a > tome that exposes pre-MFJ, pre-divestiture Bell System: > * billing punch cards: in the good old days when punch cards were sent > with the phone bills, there was some creative carving done to those cards. > In one case, a customer cut a few holes in one of those cards. The result > was free phone service indefinitely. However, someone else did a few > slices to the card, only to wind up paying for 387 red phones instead of > a single black one. The "good old days" are no earlier than 1988, and may still be exist TODAY in some parts of the country. While I lived in Prosser, WA (509-786) the local telco (United Telephone) was still sending out bills on punch cards. My first several bills were that way, then one come with a "We're modernizing our billing system" form letter and from the next month on their bills were on laserprinted forms. (Before you ask, no I didn't perform surgery on the punch cards.) United Tel. in the Yakima Valley was a bit backwards, but nothing like some complaints I've heard about them in this Digest. The local service was very reasonable ($7.50 a month for unlimited local calls), switches in all but the smallest (less than 1,000 pop.) towns were all electronic switches. I never had any problems with my local service and the service reps. were always pleasant and professional. On the day my phone service started, they arranged a phone book to be delivered by express courier, with a letter thanking me for my business. Of course, it *was* easy for them to give me reliable service -- the Prosser CO was 1/2 a block away! Also, at that time you could pick any 1+ LD carrier you wanted -- as long as it was ATT. There was no 900- or 976- service as they had decided it was too much trouble to offer blocking as required by the state, so they just turned it off. Despite its sometimes backward tendencies, I was very pleased with United Tel., and I was not alone in this attitude. People in Prosser were generally pleased with the quality of their phone service. This is in contrast with the (mostly GTE) Tri-Cities, where people would complain long and loud about poor service, indifferent CSR's, and high rates.